Personal hygiene is important to people. It is especially a concern in situations where people do not have access to permanent bath or shower facilities. For instance, after national disasters, such as earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, etc., many people are left without water and electricity, therefore making it difficult for the people to find a place to take a bath or clean any of their belongings. In the alternative, health problems make it difficult for some people to bathe or shower. As most common bathtubs have a wall to climb over, and walk-in showers require people to stand, health problems may prevent the people from taking a bath or shower. When the health issue is temporary, it would be too expensive to replace their baths or showers with permanent walk-in type bathtubs. Therefore, it would be beneficial for the injured or recovering individual to have access to a bathtub with an easy entrance, while not having to pay the expenses of completely renovating their bathroom.
Portable bathtubs have been around for some time. The portable tubs have generally included wheels, or castors, attached to the bottom of the tubs to provide for simplified moving of the bathtubs from one location to another. The tubs generally consist of two types: having a refillable tank for storing water; or being connected to an external source of water. The former variety includes holding tanks being part of the bathtub that are filled with water from an external source. For instance, a water truck or other source of water may fill the tanks. When the water from the truck or other source runs out, the bathtubs may not be used. In addition, when the portable tub is used inside of a building, it is difficult to fill the permanent container.
Bathtubs connected to an external source of water include hoses or other means of connecting the tubs to external sources of water. For instance, hoses may be used to connect the portable bathtubs to a faucet within a building, or a hose hookup outside of a building. In either case, the bathtub requires a connection to some source of running water. When a disaster or other situation occurs that contaminates or stops the running water, the bathtubs may not be used, as they do not have a viable water source to fill the tubs.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a portable, walk-in type bathtub that can be used without having to permanently replace a tub in a bathroom, and that can be refilled without the use of running water connections or another source of water to fill up a permanent tank built into the bathtub.
It is therefore a primary object, feature, and/or advantage of the present invention to overcome deficiencies in the art.
It is another object, feature, and/or advantage of the present invention to provide an improved portable bathtub that allows a person to walk in to the tub through an entrance.
It is yet another object, feature, and/or advantage of the present invention to provide a portable bathtub that can be used in times of emergency.
It is still another object, feature, and/or advantage of the present invention to provide an improved portable bathtub that can be temporarily used by people with health conditions.
It is yet another object, feature, and/or advantage of the present invention to provide an improved portable bathtub that includes a removable water compartment that can be easily attached and detached from the bathtub.
It is yet a further object, feature, and/or advantage of the present invention to provide an improved portable bathtub having a detachable water compartment with a clean water ballast and a gray water ballast.
It is still a further object, feature, and/or advantage of the present invention to provide an improved portable bathtub that includes a tankless water heater to warm the water.
These and/or other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The present invention is not to be limited to or by these objects, features and advantages. No single embodiment need provide each and every object, feature, or advantage.